


Tarth Museum

by tall_wolf_of_tarth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love museums, Museums, it came out longer than I planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 11:04:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21409147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tall_wolf_of_tarth/pseuds/tall_wolf_of_tarth
Summary: Brienne takes Jaime to Tarth to visit Tarth Museum.* * *Brienne walks to the table and looks at the sword with the biggest smile on her face.“Hello my sweetling!” she says fondly to the sword, and picks it up with her bare hands.“Brienne.” Jaime manages to breathe. “You're not supposed to touch it.”
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 35
Kudos: 190





	Tarth Museum

**Author's Note:**

> They are at Storm's End for work, so Brienne takes Jaime to Tarth to visit Tarth Museum over the weekend.

Tarth museum

It's uncanny how Brienne seems to be even taller on Tarth. Or maybe Jaime himself is shorter among all these tall people that seem to crowd the pier at Evenfall town. Brienne's father is among the tallest, almost a giant, sporting same pale blond hair than his daughter has. “Dad, this is Jaime Lannister, from the office.” He is disappointed to be introduced like that, not a friend of hers, only an annoying colleague and nothing more. Still, Selwyn shakes his hand with warm greetings, looking at him with merry blue eyes.

In her fathers house, Brienne is not only taller but more graceful as well. It's a change Jaime has seen before, small glimpses of a girl who is not gangly or awkward but calm and confident. He has spied her at the gym or running at the park, when she's sure that no-one is looking at her. Transformation from slouching and awkward to tall and graceful is even greater in her childhood home. Jaime watches her setting dinner table in an ancient kitchen, each movement of her long limbs measured and calm. It comes to grinding halt as soon as she spots him by the door, and he can see invisible walls being erected back around her, her shoulders stooping and face drawn to blank expression, carefully constructed to hide the happiness it wore before. Jaime knows it's his own fault, he was beastly to her when they first met and he has not won back her trust regardless of how much he has tried in last year. He is still surprised she didn't rescind his invitation to visit Tarth when Ygritte and Asha who were also supposed to come cancelled their plans. “Hey, can I help you with the dinner,” he offers. She shakes her head and only relaxes little when her father joins them.

Something she is not able to hide here is her Tarth accent she has concealed so well in the mainland. She chats with her father while preparing their dinner. Her voice has acquired the same sing-song lilt that her father has and Jaime can only stand by and listen to them talking. Selwyn and Brienne don't talk anything particular, just about the island news and the food that they are laying out to the table. Her father asks about the project they are currently doing in Storm's End. Jaime listens Brienne to explain the project, and Selwyn asks about their plans for the weekend next.

“We'll go to the museum tomorrow. Jaime wants to see Oathkeeper.” Brienne tells her father.

“Oh.” Selwyn pauses and a look is exchanged between father and daughter. “Have you--”

“Yes!” Brienne interrupts him. “I called her yesterday.”

“And do you have--”

“Yes, I've got them with me.” She interrupts him again.

“Alright, sweetling.” Selwyn looks amused, throws a look to Jaime and lifts a bowl of freshly boiled potatoes to the table

Food is different of what Jaime is used to, but it's good. It mainly consists of different sorts of fish, smoked, marinated or prepared some other way that Jaime is not used to. There is bread, butter and plenty of vegetables of many kind. “It's island food, Jaime. We mainly eat things that grow here. Or what the sea gives us.” Selwyn lifts little jars that contain pickled fish, mushrooms and honey to sideboard and Brienne carefully arranges them around the table. Jaime tries not to be on the way until they sit down.

“So what do you do, Selwyn? Brienne hasn't really told me.” Jaime asks.

“Oh, dad works at island council.” Brienne is fast to answer again. Selwyn looks at his daughter, eyes filled with amusement again, and Brienne glares back at him. For once, Jaime is not in the receiving end of that familiar glare. He wonders what going on between father and daughter. Perhaps she's afraid that Jaime as Lannister would find his father's job not interesting or important enough. He doesn't care about that, but Brienne seems always to expect worst of him. Selwyn quickly moves the discussion in a different direction.

“Do you kids have other plans besides the museum? If you like historical landmarks, Jaime, then Brienne should take you to see the ruins and the old sept. Those are just behind our house.”

Jaime hasn't been called a kid for decades now, but Selwyn seems to be a fatherly type, he thinks when the older man picks up a bowl of potatoes and starts spooning them to Brienne's and Jaime's plates. Jaime tries to think if his own father has ever offered him anything to eat but suspects he hasn't.

“Eat, kids. You'll have a long day tomorrow with sightseeing. Uncle Goodwin has decided to throw a party and you know what his parties are like, Brienne. You'll be lucky to escape it before the sunrise. By then, Jaime, I'm sure you'll have learned great deal more about our island and our family.”

* * *

Brienne takes Jaime upstairs to his room, which seems to be next to her own. The two rooms are connected with a rickety door between them.

“Dad only keeps this side of the house warm enough,” she mutters, clearly embarrassed with this unexplained door connecting their rooms.

“Twin rooms, awesome” he snickers. “I can run to you when ghosts of your ancestors attack me during the night.”

She rolls her eyes at his antics, and tries to shoo him out of said door but he pursues further into her room to look at the suit of armour in the corner. It's really good repro of Blue Knight's armour. There is even better repro of Oathkeeper on nearby wall.

“Wow, Brienne, you really are a fan of Blue Knight?” He turns to look at her. “Do you go to reenactment fairs and play her or something?” She blushes again, with awkwardness returned to her.

“No, it's not mine. I mean, it is mine, but it wasn't made for me. It's been in the house for ages. Do you want to see rest the house now?”

Brienne's fathers house is old. Not old like Casterly Rock is old, but old like a country house that has been on its place since the beginning of the time. Parts have been added to it through the centuries and parts have been torn down and rebuilt. Every wall in every room looks like it was built on a different century from the other walls. The staircases are either wide and grand or narrow and winding. The rooms are stuffed with eclectic furniture and walls are filled with an array of paintings, portraits, maps, drawings, photographs and tapestries. Jaime notices some empty slots, where clearly a painting or tapestry was hanging recently and guesses that Selwyn Tarth has had to sell some of his treasures. It is hard to upkeep ancient houses, he knows, so he pretends not to notice the gaps. He trails after Brienne through sprawling rooms filled with books, suits of armours, embroidery hoops and telescopes.

“So, Brienne. Tell me about your family ghosts.” He tries to engage her to conversation. She's been oddly silent instead lecture about the house and family history that he expected to be delivered.

“Ghosts, Jaime?” She rolls her eyes again at him.

“Every old rickety house has ghosts, so tell me about yours. Is there a headless horseman?” Brienne snorts at that. “Weeping maid in white dress? Creepy twins crying in hallways?” He continues.

“No, nothing like that.”

“Have you seen any?”

“I haven't seen any ghosts, Jaime.” She looks amused though. “There are stories of course.”

“Tell me,” he exclaims, walks closer to her and adds, “please.”

“Well,” she turns away from him and looks out of the window to the courtyard. “There is a lady knight. She is supposed to bring good luck when you see her.”

“Have you seen her?” She looks embarrassed again.

“Of course not, Jaime. There are no ghosts.”

“Of course there are. Any others?”

“There is supposed to be a man with one hand, in the armoury.”

“What does he do?”

“I'm not sure he is supposed to do anything. I guess he clangs some swords or something.”

“Lost his false hand, did he? And now he spends the eternity looking for it. Probably forgot it to the loo.” That makes her laugh, or at least snicker.

“Do you want to go running in the morning before we go to the museum? We could run by the ruins and look for ghosts there.” She offers him when they start walking back towards the side of the house Selwyn uses.

He is glad to accept her offer, running together is the time that they never bicker. When they are out on the street with the sneakers on, their speed matches and disagreements and squabbles about data sheets are forgotten. Although they haven't actually bickered yet here in Tarth.

“Do you want to see something fun?” she offers him with a sly look on her eyes and stops before a, particularly faded tapestry. “It's a bit scary though.”

“Now I _have_ to see it, Brienne, however scary that is.” She smiles and grabs a torch from a side table, pulls up the tapestry and leads him through a sliding panel to a secret passageway. The passageway is dark and narrow with tight corners and ancient stone steps and she holds his hand while he trails after her. He wants the passageway to go on forever, he wants to stop and pull her hand until she tumbles to his arms and he wants to kiss her against the cold stone walls. But the exit is just around the corner, another sliding panel that leads them out of the narrow pathway.

“You are full of secrets, Brienne Tarth.” He tells her when they step out to the hallway where their twin rooms are. She looks pleased with his reaction and pulls the panel closed again. She points out his bedroom door and goes to her own room.

“Good night, Jaime.” She calls to him through the rickety door joining their rooms. He wants to go to the door and lean against it. He wants to push it open and find her and whisper secrets to her. Instead he sits to his bed and looks at the stars painted to the ceiling.

* * *

Tarth museum is in Evenfall Hall, the castle built near the harbour of Tarth town. Jaime looks at white marble walls that look like something built from sugar cubes. Next to the main gate hangs a huge banner of Blue Knight, dressed in her blue armour and holding Oathkeeper. “Come on, Tarth,” he calls Brienne. “Let's go and get our tickets. I want to see the sword before the museum closes” and nudges her forward.

“We still have plenty of time, Jaime.” Brienne looks away from the walls. She looks slightly embarrassed for some reason, face in blushed that delicious shade of pink he likes so much. They go to the ticket office, where the lady behind the counter seems to recognize Brienne.”Good day Miss Tarth!” she exclaims happily and hands Brienne two stickers that work as tickets. Brienne sticks one on her own shoulder, and the other to Jaime's shirt, just above his heart. The stickers have a picture of Oathkeeper on them. “Did you buy the tickets beforehand?” he asks her, but she doesn't answer. “Let's go to see the castle first, and then the armoury.” He follows her to the museum.

* * *

“This is a Lannister sword.”

Brienne looks up from the glass case that covers the sword and looks annoyed.

“It's a Tarth sword, not Lannister,” she responds. “It's been here for a millennia. And everyone knows Oathkeeper is a Tarth sword.”

“It looks exactly like a Lannister sword. It's a Lannister sword!” He beams at her.

She frowns again at him but doesn't respond. He pursues. “I mean, look, the lions look exactly like the ones on Widow's Wail. Have you seen it?”

She still looks annoyed. “Of course I've seen it, Jaime. Everyone has. Alright, I know it most likely comes from the same source than Widow's Wail, but you can't call it a Lannister sword. It's a Tarth sword.”

He lets it go, even if he disagrees with her. He doesn't want to break the delicate truce they had managed to form on last night and this morning. “It's a beautiful sword.” he offers instead. It really is a beautiful sword, grey steel with red ripples shining through the glass case. Little lion on the hilt has eyes made of rubies. Brienne clearly likes it too, she looks at it with a small smile and her own blue eyes shining. He doesn't know what does he wants to look at more, Brienne's smile or the beautiful Valyrian steel sword.

“Come and see the rest of the exhibition as well, Jaime.” She tugs his elbow when he has looked at the sword and hilt from every direction than the glass case has let him. He follows her and lets her guide him towards the bigger glass cage that contains Blue Knights famous armour. He is excited to see it, and she points out small details to him, tells him the history of it and explains how one wears it. “You clearly are a fan of hers, you can't keep it from me” he nudges her gently, and for once she doesn't seem to be bothered by his teasing. When they move away from the armour, to look at the other things related to the Evenstar family, he finally notices the painting.

“Blue Knight! Oh, gods, it's my favourite painting of her!” Jaime can't contain his excitement and practically skips to look at it closer.

He didn't know there was a copy here. It's a painting of Blue Knight in a battlefield, holding Oathkeeper and fighting against an army of wights. She is painted magnificently; tall, strong and fierce. Jaime's pants feel tight in the memory of teenage Jaime masturbating and thinking about that painting.

“Lady Brienne of Tarth, daughter of Evenstar” says real Brienne next to him. “She was so awesome. She did the coolest things ever. You know she attacked _a gods damn tank_ with Oathkeeper?”

“In the Last Great War?” Jaime looks at her and laughs. She looks so excited and happy and Jaime wants to kiss her so badly.

“Yes. What remains of that tank is out in the courtyard. Lady Brienne was a trailblazer. She fought in the war, she founded hospitals and schools, she went to expeditions to the Shivering Sea. She discovered plants and animal species and negotiated peace treaties.”

“And got herself painted in Blue Knights armour. I've seen the original in the National Museum.”

“Oh, that one is a copy. This is the original. Someone in Kings Landing was a fan of hers and commissioned a copy for himself.”

“You look like her, you know.” Jaime needs to say it. She does look like her. Lady Brienne has the same blue eyes and the same strong build that his Brienne has. “Are you related to her?”

“I guess we all are, at some level. Come and see the tapestry as well, there is a scene that is believed to depict Blue Knight fighting against the Others.” They look at the tapestry with its silly-looking knights and horses than look more like donkeys and Jaime makes jokes about the creatures that could be dragons or perhaps giant spiders. Their giggling seems to wake a guard nodding off quietly at the corner. There are other guests around them but Jaime doesn't pay any attention to anyone except Brienne. He wishes he could take her hand or even move himself closer to her. Before he can carry out his plan an unmarked door opens next to the tapestry. Two museum workers come through it, one of them rolling a little trolley table. The other, an elderly lady, greets Brienne with a big smile. When two women have changed greetings, Brienne starts apologizing for something.

“I'm so sorry to ruin your day off, Maevy.”

“It's fine, Brienne.” Maevy dismisses her. “You know that it's perfectly in your right to ask this any time you wish to do so.”

“But it's Saturday, and I should have called you earlier!”

“I really don't mind, I'm here most Saturdays anyway.” Maevy rebuffs again.

Jaime doesn't still understand what Brienne is apologizing for. The other employee, the younger man, has parked his trolley table at the middle of the room and waits silently. The table is covered with something soft and there are layers of silk paper on top of it. The sleepy guard has stood up from his chair and ushers the other nearby visitors away from this end of the armoury and fences the area off with a tape. They probably will do some maintenance work on the area, Jaime thinks, and feels slightly put out. He really hoped to look at Oathkeeper again and he didn't have time to take any pictures. Strangely, he and Brienne are not ushered away yet. Instead, Brienne introduces him to Maevy who is a curator of Tarth museum.

“This is my friend, Jaime. He has a bucket list of Valyrian steel swords.” Maevy greets him with a smile. “How many have you seen until now, Jaime?”

“This is my third. I've seen Widow's Wail and Heartsbane.” The two swords that are in the National Museum in Kings Landing.

“That's nice.” the lady responds, slightly amused. “You haven't seen any others yet?”

“No, too busy with work.” He lies.

“So, Brienne. Do you have the key with you?” Maevy turns to Brienne. Brienne nods back at her, slightly nervously. And then something unfolds in front of Jaime's eyes which he doesn't understand first.

Brienne produces a key from her pocket, identical to one that Maevy has now on her hand. Both women crouch next to the display case where Oathkeeper is, and unlock something from the sides of the casing. Codes are put in with small keyboards that appear under sliding panels. Jaime notices that two more guards have appeared in the room; not the kind of guards you usually see in the museum dressed in cardigans and reading glasses, but tall men with guns on their sides. The display case buzzes and clicks, and the other museum worker, whos name Jaime didn't catch, comes and opens the side of the case with gloved hands. He reaches into the case, and very carefully lifts the sword out and puts it to the wheely table next to him. Then he proceeds to take out the sheath, and puts it next there as well.

It gets weirder after that.

Brienne walks to the table and looks at the sword with the biggest smile on her face.

“Hello my sweetling!” she says fondly to the sword, and picks it up with her bare hands.

“Brienne.” Jaime manages to breathe. “You're not supposed to touch it.” Brienne just laughs at him and lifts the sword up. She looks like a warrior. She looks like Blue Knight. Jaime swallows tightly.

“Jaime, it's alright. It's my sword.”

Jaime looks at the staff standing by. The curator lady is taking a picture of Brienne with her phone. The man looks at Brienne in a slightly anxious way, but doesn't protest. The guards just stand by and keep watch.

“But..” he tries again but gets speechless when looking at Brienne. She moves with the sword from a position to another, slowly and gracefully like a dancer. The awkward, clumsy Brienne is gone again. Instead, there is Brienne who is confident, happy and without reservations. She doesn't stumble or shake, and she is now taller than ever. Jaime watches her and the only coherent thought in his head is that he really needs to remember all this, memorize every detail he sees so he will remember it all forever. Brightness in her eyes, pink blush on her cheeks and fluidity in her movements. Valyrian steel sword in her hands.

He must gawk with his mouth opened, because Brienne stops and tries to reassure him again.

“Jaime, it's alright, really. This is literally my sword.” She blushes. “I own it. I can touch it if I want to.”

“_You are Brienne of Tarth, daughter of Evenstar, heir of Blue Knight.” _He is not sure if he's said that aloud or only thought of it. Brienne smiles like she heard it anyways. She lowers the sword, walks back to the wheely table, picks up the hilt and pushes the sword to it. Then she offers it to Jaime.

“Here. You can hold it if you want to.” Jaime is still speechless. She smiles again and her eyes are endless pools of joy. He feels like his heart will explode with emotion if he looks at her any longer. He drops his gaze to sword instead.

“Just put on the gloves and try not to drop it,” she laughs.

* * *

“Your dad is Evenstar.” She doesn't answer to him, only smiles crookedly. She had to guide her out of the armoury by the hand after too short of time when they looked at the sword together. Even Maevy cooed over it before the nervous younger man, a conservator, wheeled it off presumably to be cleaned after being manhandled by its owner. Jaime follows Brienne across the courtyard and up the stairs to the ramparts.

“I can't believe you didn't tell me. You _own_ a Valyrian steel sword, and you didn't tell me.” Brienne sits him down to a bench overlooking the harbour.

“I'm sorry.” She doesn't look like she _is_ sorry though, she looks amused. “I don't really advertise any of this.”

She explains it then to him, that as the firstborn daughter of Evenstar, she owns the sword and armour until her lifetime, and how she always felt that the sword should be seen by people and to be used to benefit the people of Tarth and how she decided to loan the sword and other things to Tarth Museum. He listens quietly her talking of how her father supported her decision and how the new exhibition has been good for island tourism. She sits near him, and the happiness evaporates off her. He has not heard her speak so freely before, excited and elated. They look over the ramparts to the harbour where small yachts and fancy pleasure boats move with the waves and wind.

“Thank you, Brienne of Tarth, future Evenstar. Thank you for showing me your sword.” He leans little closer to her and she blushes again. He can't resist to tease her a little more.

“So what do you think, how did Maid of Tarth acquire a Lannister sword?” They are walking along the ramparts now, while Brienne points out the landmarks around the town to him.

“Gods, Jaime! It's not a Lannister sword!” She exclaims and nudges him with her elbow, but smiles still. Not annoyed this time, at least not enough to scowl.

“You're right, it's not. It's _your sword_. I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier though.” She smiles at him, clearly pleased with herself and how she managed to trick him so long.

“But do you know how it came to her? There must be legends.”

“Oh, there are legends.” Brienne leans on the wall overlooking at the sea. “Some say that The Maid herself gave it to her, but that's likely a corruption of legend about Galladon of Morne. There is also a poem where it's The Warrior who gives the sword to Maid of Tarth, another variation of same. But there is no actual record of how she has acquired Oathkeeper. No-one really knows.”

“And what do you believe?” Jaime leans next to her. She looks at him quietly for a moment, calm eyes evaluating his worthiness of her sharing her thoughts with him.

“Well, as you cleverly noticed, it most likely comes from Crownlands. Given the lions, it's likely does origin from Lannister family. I think she probably took it at the battlefield from one of your ancestors.”

“Battlefield?” You really think she beat up a mighty Lannister knight wielding a Valyrian steel sword?”

“Yes!” Her eyes are bright with excitement again. “She was a legendary fighter!”

“No, I think it was something else.” Something better, he thinks.

“Like what?”

“Maybe some Lannister Lord _gave_ it to her. Awarded her for some valour or good deed. Lannisters always pay their debts.”

“With Valyrian steel swords? That doesn't seem likely.”

“Or maybe it was a gift. From someone who admired her.”

“That's even more unlikely than repaying a debt.” The idea annoys her, he sees it clearly so of course he pushes it further.

“A gift, yes. I like that idea. A gift from a lover...”

“Lover? From some Lannister? You know they were enemies, right?”

“Well, that just makes it even more romantic, doesn't it? A gift from Lannister knight to his secret lady love, who also happened to be a knight and would appreciate a beautiful jewelled sword. I bet the stared at each other longingly across the battlefields and courtyards while pretending to be enemies.”

She rolls her eyes and laughs.“I bet she kicked his ass to the ground.”

“I bet he liked that.” He couldn't resist murmuring that to her ear, and she rewards him with a furious blush. He is sure she will hit him or kiss him, but instead she retreats.

“If you want to see the shop, we should go now.” Of course, he does want to see the shop, he loves museum shops and always spends too much money in them. So they hurry down from ramparts and head towards the exit where the little shop is. There is another huge poster of Blue Knight wielding her sword hung inside the wall as well.

“You know what I regret?” Jaime nudges Brienne with his elbow when they walk across the courtyard. “I should have taken a picture of you with the sword. I was so dumbfounded by it all that I could only stare at you with my mouth hanging open.” She laughs at that, great honking loud laugh that makes him grin with pleasure.

“I think we can fix that in the shop.” Her eyes are full of amusement again.

“What, they sell repros in the shop so I can take a picture of you with it?”

“No, Jaime.” She stops, grabs his hand and points to a huge poster of Blue Knight. “Look!”

He looks at the picture. There is Blue Knight, dressed in the helmet he saw in the armoury, holding Oathkeeper and looking at him with bluest eyes he has ever seen. Brienne's eyes. It's Brienne on the wall, staring him and he only noticed her now.

“You can buy some pictures from inside, if you wish. They took so many of them, they are bound to be some postcards with me with sword on them.,” She pulls Jaime, who is again speechless, to the shop.

* * *

* * *

Brienne's uncle Goodwin knows how to throw a party. It's nothing like a Lannister party, which is a good thing. Lannister parties are dull and tiresome while Tarth party seems to be boisterous and fun. Brienne holds Jaime's good hand and pulls him through the crowd towards the back garden where the food is. Every once in a while someone stops them and excitedly greets and talks with Brienne. She introduces him to them as _her friend Jaime_. It makes him warm inside that he has graduated from a _Jaime from office_ to a friend, but he wishes he could be more. Somewhere nearby a band is playing, and the crowd is noisy, so she leans near him and talks straight to his ear about eating some food before _the best of it is gone._ Her breath sends a shiver through his spine and in this moment he would follow her to the end of the world. Instead, he follows her to the tables laden with full trays, and clearly there is no danger of any of it disappearing soon. After they clean out several plates of assortment of fish and seafood and empty several unlabelled brown bottles of excellent beer she pulls him to the dance floor. Jaime distinctly remembers an after-work party where _the other Brienne_ stood awkwardly and red-faced as far away from a dance floor as she could. This Brienne, _the_ _Island Brienne_, laughs and pulls him to a reel. _Everyone knows how to dance a reel, Jaime, _she shouts with her singsong Tarth lilt_._ So they dance and laugh, and between dances, they drink more ice-cold beer and chat with Brienne's friends and relatives. Brienne's uncle Goodwin tells them a kind of joke that needs long setup, and ends with a punchline so silly that they all howl with laughter. Brienne laughs so much she grabs Jaime by waist and honks until tears flow down her face. He keeps holding her waist after that and she lets him. “Do you know how much I like you, Island Brienne?” he murmurs to her ear while they stand in the crowd, hands around each other. She blushes again -- gods how he loves her blushes – and she puts her hand to the sticker above his heart.

They leave when the party starts to wind down. Selwyn, their ride there, has taken his truck and disappeared from the party along with some lady he was seen talking to earlier. Brienne just rolls her eyes to Goodwyn delivering this news and tells Jaime they need to walk home. Although the island beer was strong he doesn't feel drunk at all when they start walking. He feels giddy with the party mood, the tunes the band played and the way Brienne held him in the crowd. She holds his hand again, and leads him through the winding paths between fields and hills. It's eerily quiet outside after the noise of the party. “We are only a couple of miles away,” she assures him and lights the path with their borrowed torch. The moon shines above them when they stop at the top of the hill overlooking at the town below. She points out the Sept, and the Keep to him. Evenfall Hall with its shining white walls illuminated he recognizes himself.

“Brienne.” he murmurs to her ear again.

She looks at him and he feels again how his heart is ready to burst.

“Brienne. Can I kiss you? I'd really like to.”

“Jaime...” There is a thump, and she has dropped the torch to the ground. She sighs, without answering him, and puts her hand above his heart. She nods to him and leans her forehead against his. He feels her hand shaking against his chest, so he takes it to his own and kisses her fingers. She is nervous again, shaking, but she hasn't closed her walls to him yet.

He needs to reach up a little, but only a little, when he kisses her lips. Their first kiss is just a gentle touch of lips, testing of unknown ground. He pulls back from her lips and looks at her reaction, and when she doesn't push him away he kisses her again, more hungrily this time. She hums a little, a pleasant sound, and so he wraps his arm around her to pull her closer. She is warm in his embrace, so warm and alive and solid. When the kiss ends, she leans her forehead against his again and there is only them under the moon and stars.

“Brienne. I need to tell you something,” he says and pulls away from her. He needs to tell her something. She looks at him with blue eyes almost black in the darkness.

“I lied to you. I don't have a bucket list of Valyrian steel swords.” She doesn't respond.

“I just wanted to come with you to Tarth. Well, I did want to see Oathkeeper, I've always wanted to see it, but I don't have a bucket list of swords. At least I didn't have it until now. I just wanted to spend a weekend with you.”

He picks up the torch she dropped earlier and fidgets nervously with it. Is she angry? He tries to read her face, but she has turned away from him. She turns back and she is not, she is not angry at all. She has the same look than Selwyn had when she had lied about where her father works. Amused, and affectionate look, one that is not angry at all.

“You are an idiot, do you know that, Jaime Lannister.” She says with a smile and her island singsong lilt and he is just so fond of her that he repeats it back to her with his attempt to mimic her accent. She retaliates with smacking him to shoulder but it's gentle so he pulls her to back his embrace again and kisses her sweet mouth until she drops the torch again.

“Come on, let's go home.” She picks up the torch again and takes his hand to lead him through the night.

* * *

She wakes up on late morning with Jaime Lannister sprawled naked on top of her. She should have guessed that Jaime is a clingy sleeper, not that her narrow childhood bed would allow for them to be very far from each other anyway. But here he is, one arm around her middle, his golden hair tickling her nose and one foot thrown over her, clinging to her like a limpet. He is heavy and the weight of him feels glorious. Or it would feel like that, if Brienne hadn't woke up filled with panic and worry. Having Jaime Lannister sleeping in her bed wasn't the plan at all. None of this was the plan at all, the plan was actually to bring Ygritte and Asha to Tarth for some sightseeing and fun, but of course, as soon as Jaime Lannister heard of said plan he invited himself to come too, _You know Tarth I have a bucket list of Valyrian steel swords and the Oathkeeper is next on it so I'm coming too._ And then both Asha and Ygritte just cancelled with some slightly dubious excuses, and she ended up on the ferry to Tarth with only Jaime Lannister grinning at her with his annoyingly pretty face. Not to mention that he is here now, in her bed, snoring slightly while she tries furiously to figure out what to do next.

The best course of action would be to run away of course, but that would mean she would have to push him off her and he would wake up before she could run away and she suspects then the awkwardness building up inside her would explode to epic levels. Levels like where she would just freeze to the place and gawk at him without being able to stutter a word. Then she wouldn't have any option but just run away from him, ditch her current life and to become a recluse septa beyond the Wall where no-one would know of levels of embarrassment she is able to reach.

It had been much easier yesterday. Jaime had looked so happy and excited in the museum, nothing like sneering and defensive _office Jaime_, so it had been natural to take his hand and pull him to whatever exciting thing she would think he would like to see next. And everything she did show him he actually liked, so he became more excited, more relaxed and that made herself feel less awkward. The more relaxed she became, Jaime became more affectionate and touchy and so the day had ended with them making out on her bed without any embarrassment or anxiety.

“Gods, Brienne, I've wanted to touch you so long.” Jaime had moaned against her neck when he had pushed his hand under her shirt and even thinking about how that felt then made her now shiver again.

_Jaime liked her._ It wasn't a complete surprise to her, she had thought it might be possible before. He did seek her out more than it was necessary for friendly colleagues. You wouldn't want to go to running together every morning or bring coffee and doughnuts to share every afternoon with someone you don't like. Or beg to come with you to your home island on the only weekend they had free on this three-week work trip in Storm's End. Yes they did bicker constantly and sneer at each other, but Brienne liked Jaime, had a terrible crush actually, so it was perfectly possible to bicker with someone while same time liking-slash-crushing on them. So yes, Brienne had entertained the possibility that Jaime might like her back.

The amount of how much he liked her was surprising though. And the speed of how they went from tentatively standing near each other on the ferry to holding hands when walking out from museum to clinging to each other in the party to pulling off each other's clothes on her bed was almost overwhelming. They didn't go all the way in the end, but that only had been because neither of them had any condoms with them, so they had used their hands and mouths and fingers instead. Or Jaime had used his, until she had sighed and moaned and shivered all over. After that it hadn't felt embarrassing at all to take him to her hands until he came apart moaning _Fuck yes, Brienne, gods, yes, fuck, Brienne, yes Brienne._ Then they had cuddled little, kissed each other and Jaime had whispered _I like you so much Brienne Tarth, a descendant of Maid of Tarth, future Evenstar and defendant of the clerks in Accounting_ to her ear and promptly fell asleep clinging to her like a limpet.

_Am I still a maid_, Brienne thinks shortly, _now when Jaime Lannisters fingers have been inside my cunt_, before deciding that virginity is a social construct anyway and not worth thinking about. And then she thinks _maybe dad has condoms in his bedroom_, oh gods, that thought comes out of the nowhere to her and she quickly tries to stomp on it and tries to think something else instead of his dads sex life. And then _Ygritte would just text him and ask “dad where do you keep condoms”_ and that thought is so impossible for Brienne to think so she just double face-palms herself and wakes up Jaime in the process.

“Hey,” Jaime murmurs and Brienne peeks at him from between her fingers.

“That bad, is it?” he smiles crookedly, unclings himself from Brienne and leans up to his elbow to look at her.

“I see we are in full awkwardness now.” He remarks. Brienne is not physically say anything and remains frozen as she is. _So I'll be a septa then_, she thinks in her head, but before she can figure out how exactly she can escape from her bedroom at Tarth to Wilderness Beyond the Wall Jaime leans forward and kisses the space on her forehead that is uncovered by her fingers. And then he kisses the tip of her nose, and the hollow at her throat and from there he goes downwards with his kissing until Brienne has to let go of her face and grab his hair instead until she forgets to be embarrassed for a while.

“Thank you,” he tells her afterwards when he comes back up.

“For what?”

“For our date yesterday.” She hadn't thought of it as a date, but they can call it a date if they wish to do so, she decides.

“I've never had a museum date before.” Jaime continues. “It was pretty awesome. I suspect it will be hard to top in future. We do have some cool artefacts laying around in Rock, but I'm not ready to return to that lions den yet. Maybe we could go to Nat, even you've been there before. Back when we are in Kings Landing again.”

“I had a good time too, Jaime. It was a lovely day.” She doesn't want to think about King's Landing yet.

And then of course then she has to think about her dad returning home soon and about the ferry time tables and their date on Tarth ending soon and all that makes Brienne sad and anxious again.

“No, no, no, don't do that again.” Jaime seems to sense her returning panic and pulls her back to his arms again. “Don't hide from me again. Tell me what's wrong.” He nuzzles her neck and rocks her a little.

“I'm just worried about what will happen when we are back on the mainland.”

“You know that you'll never be rid of me now when I've finally managed to weasel my way into your affections, right?” His tone is lighthearted but he holds her very close to him while he says it.

“We'll go back to the hotel,” he continues. “And I'll try to give you little space tonight but I'll be really bad at it and then I'll end up scratching your door anyway until you'll feel sorry for me and let me in. And then tomorrow the project will go live and we'll have hardly any time for each other at all until on Thursday when we all go back to King's Landing. Then I'll take you to Nat Museum to see how much alike your sword is to one in there and we'll have another, much less exciting date. If you want to, to do all that with me, that is.” He sounds little worried himself too.

“But what if I'm awkward again? I'll try not to, but I will be, you know I will.”

“Brienne.” He kisses her nose again. “I like you when you are awkward. I mean, obviously I want you to be comfortable when you are with me, but I really like you weather you are this adorable bundle of nerves or weather you are this fierce island girl who wields swords and dances reels.”

“I'm not fierce.” she tries to argue back, but his little speech does make her feel better.

“Oh yes, you are. You are quite intimidating sometimes. You have this terrifying glare, much like Lady Brienne has on the painting.”

“Shut up, Jaime.” She smacks at him but feels much better again. He retaliates by tickling her side and it makes her screech with laugher and they roll around bed kissing and touching each other until Brienne starts thinking about condoms again. It stops short when she receives a text from her father warning he'll be home in 20 minutes. They dress hurriedly, trying to find clean clothes from their respective rooms. She sorts out her bed and herself so she wouldn't quite look so ravished but doesn't much succeed on the latter. Not that dad seems to notice when they come down to the kitchen and she tries not to blush furiously in front of his dad who setting up a breakfast table for them. _Dad likes Jaime_, she realizes suddenly when he starts spooning honey to Jaime's tea without asking him. There are many pitfalls that this could mean, but there is one particular she needs to avoid first.

“Dad, we're not taking any fish back with us.” She warns him preemptively.

Dad looks at her disappointedly. “But I have just smoked a new batch of salmon.”

“No, dad! We're staying at the hotel and there is no way we have time or a place to eat smoked salmon. We're not taking any fish back with us.” She repeats.

“What, not even pickled one? It keeps if you don't open the jar until you're back home.” Jaime sitting next to Brienne looks at them arguing and _grins_.

“No, dad! We're not taking any fish back, you'll have to eat it yourself. You shouldn't have canned so much again.” She knows his tendency to feed her gets overbearing unless she sets limits now.

“Alright,” he placates, and _winks_ to Jaime. “So, Jaime,” dad continues with a different subject. “Did you like Tarth Museum?” and smirks at him. Brienne contemplates running off to North of the Wall again.

“I loved it!” Jaime beams. “I loved _everything_ about it.” And then Jaime takes her hand and _kisses_ it. Brienne freezes again, would almost double face-palm again, but Jaime doesn't let go of her hand so she face-palms with only one hand instead.

“Aww, sweetling, don't be like that,” her father chuckles across the table. “Besides, it's all your own fault tricking him like that. Did you guessed any of it at all, Jaime?”

“No, I didn't,” Jaime responds happily, still clutching her hand and starts explaining how he didn't have _any_ idea, how he even saw the huge poster of her, and still didn't realize it's _her_ and how Brienne had to point it to him. Brienne relaxes enough to drop her hand from her face when Jaime babbles on happily. _Brienne just took the sword_, and _I nearly swooned_ and _gods I should have taken a picture of her with it._ Dad laughs at him, takes out his phone and forwards them the picture Maevy took at the museum.

In the end their time on Tarth ends and her dad drives them to ferry terminal. When Jaime is unloading their overnight bags and his shopping bags from the museum at the back of the car dad pulls Brienne to a hug. “I'm glad you came home to visit, sweetling.” And Brienne almost cries then, because she knows what her father doesn't say and she hugs him back and tries to will her eyes dry. Jaime gets a hug from her dad as well, which leaves him looking little surprised but also pleased.

“Hold on, kids. I've forgot to give something to Jaime.”

“Oh gods, dad, I told you about the fish. We can't take smoked fish to the hotel with us.” Brienne grumbles and that makes Jaime laugh again.

“It's not fish, sweetling.” dad says. Instead he pulls out a jar of honey from his car and puts it to Jaime's hand. They clearly need to leave very fast before any more food appears so Brienne evacuates Jaime and their luggage towards the ferry as fast as she can.

“We have to come back here again, Island Brienne” Jaime tells her on the pier and kisses her. She does agree with that, happy with her success with escaping Tarth without any smoked fish with them.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is, but I wrote it so it's yours. It was supposed to be Jaime's POV all the way but then Brienne barged in and took over. Also, I wanted to write more about the ferries between Tarth and Storm's End, about the tax-free booze and karaoke bars on ferries but scrapped those parts.
> 
> And Selwyn, you really need to limit how much fish you smoke and how much preserves you make. 
> 
> Some parts of this fic might be autobiographical. Mainly the crap about the preserves and abundance of smoked fish and museums.
> 
> ***  
Some headcanons:  
The empty slots on the walls of Selwyn's house are there because the paintings and other items he has leant to the museum. In case it wasn't obvious.
> 
> Repro armour and sword in Brienne's room have been made to some Evenstar's daughters couple of hundred years ago. Brienne wore them to museum photoshoot, but used real Oathkeeper.
> 
> Selwyn totally took off with Maevy from the party. He is a dog like that, but the ladies don't mind, not too much.
> 
> The ruins next to Selwyn's house are from the original, old Evenfall Hall. Selwyn's house is an old gatehouse or something. There is an old sept, where the statue of Maid looks like Jaime and the statue of Warrior looks like Brienne. Evenfall Hall in Tarth town is rebuilt at some point.
> 
> Island of Tarth looks much like Gotland in my head. Food is a fusion from every side of Northern Baltic sea (Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Russian etc ). These people love their fish and seasonal vegetables.
> 
> As soon as Brienne goes to home she puts on her Island Sweater. It's undyed lambswool, cream coloured. Selwyn knit it to her when she was a teenager, since everyone fucking knits in Tarth, both men and women. My fucking headcanon, so I can make them knit if I want to :D
> 
> Brienne doesn't knit, but she knows how to. She darns her sweater but complains while she does it.
> 
> Jaime is pretty stupid for not realising Selwyn is A Very Important Person in Tarth but I blame it on him being living in his privileged bubble where he imagines everyone has childhood homes that are ye olde country houses with suits of armour lying around.
> 
> The work project they have is about some large info system, maybe related to library info systems, that they are delivering to a customer in Storm's End. Jaime is not Brienne's boss, or another way around. Brienne cares way too much about Change Management documents.
> 
> Brienne's computer background has been one of the museum photos with her in the armour but her desktop is covered with way too many shortcuts so you can hardly see it.
> 
> On their way back to mainland Jaime goes to a perfume shop on the ferry and finds that they sell condoms, so he stocks up and buys like way too many packages. They run out surprisingly fast.
> 
> No-one, absolutely no-one, is surprised in their project team that Tarth-Lannisters return from their Tarth holiday looking slightly dazed and recently fucked.


End file.
